Bruckner's Abbey

[TheGSMoeller]

Was browsing the Berlin Phil. Digital Concert schedule, they are performing Bruckner's... "Symphony No. 9 in D minor in the performing edition of the 4th movement completed from the manuscripts by Samale-Phillips-Cohrs-Mazzuca (1985-2008/revised 2010)" on Thursday Feb. 9th, 2012


http://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/live

[MishaK]

Was browsing the Berlin Phil. Digital Concert schedule, they are performing Bruckner's... "Symphony No. 9 in D minor in the performing edition of the 4th movement completed from the manuscripts by Samale-Phillips-Cohrs-Mazzuca (1985-2008/revised 2010)" on Thursday Feb. 9th, 2012


http://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/live

Yeah, I may have to listen to that since it's the newest revision of the SPCM completion, even though I once heard Rattle/BPO do one of the most pointless 3-movement Bruckner 9s I've ever witnessed.

[eyeresist]

Yeah, I may have to listen to that since it's the newest revision of the SPCM completion, even though I once heard Rattle/BPO do one of the most pointless 3-movement Bruckner 9s I've ever witnessed.

Hopefully this will be more on the level of his Mahler 10.

I notice the BPO is doing a lot of Berio and Elgar this year (plus Walton's 1st!).

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

@TheGSMoeller That Wand Bruckner 4 is indeed terrific. I have known that movement for 35 years, but what extraordinary music!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

From: Havergal Brian, 'The Mahler Revival' (1930) in: Havergal Brian on Music, Volume Two: European and American Music, ed. Malcolm MacDonald, p. 83-85:


"Was there an absence of vitality in the music that caused the first impressions of the Bruckner and Mahler Symphonies to fade away so quickly? Such interest as remained from the pioneer performances has been kept alive by a few enthusiasts who possessed the scores. It is entirely a speculative question if the same repeated performances which followed the new works by Strauss had been given to Bruckner and Mahler, whether they would have just as quickly obtained a sympathetic and interested following as did Strauss. Supposing that the symphonic poems of Strauss and the symphonies of Tchaikovsky had met with the same indifference as those of Bruckner and Mahler, would there ever have been a public clamouring for them? A symphonic work cannot be thoroughly enjoyed or appreciated until it is really known. Intimate understanding is only gained by repeated hearing."


"We feel quite sanguine of the ultimate success of the Bruckner and Mahler symphonies."

[karlhenning]

A symphonic work cannot be thoroughly enjoyed or appreciated until it is really known.

Well, I'm just puzzled at the apparent singling out of symphonic music here;  there's hardly a genre of music of which the same could not be said; and many symphonic works are more transparent to the listener than a great deal of the chamber repertory.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Well, I'm just puzzled at the apparent singling out of symphonic music here;  there's hardly a genre of music of which the same could not be said; and many symphonic works are more transparent to the listener than a great deal of the chamber repertory.

I agree that, e.g., chamber music demands as much (if not more) close attention. Brian shows his symphonic bias, perhaps...

[karlhenning]

Aye, I suppose it must just be in the context of Brian's own focus . . . it may not really be the somewhat blinkered remark it appears on first blush.

[eyeresist]

"Intimate understanding is only gained by repeated hearing."

Of course, intimate understanding can lead to love, OR hate!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Of course, intimate understanding can lead to love, OR hate!

Yes, that's possible, too. German philosopher Th.W. Adorno didn't like Stravinsky, preferring the Second Viennese School, but still understood very well what made Igor tick. I think both the enthusiasts and the really violent detractors can teach us something about their object of love and hate.

[Brahmsian]

Since the beginning of 2011, I have listened to Bruckner's 7th Symphony 13 times.   

Perhaps good old Anton would be proud of my OCD. 

Well, that is still a lot less than Gurn's LVB 9th Sunday sermon.     Just sayin....

[Brian]

Since the beginning of 2011, I have listened to Bruckner's 7th Symphony 13 times.   

Perhaps good old Anton would be proud of my OCD. 

Well, that is still a lot less than Gurn's LVB 9th Sunday sermon.     Just sayin....

Wow! Only twice for me, No 6 appears to be my 'flavor of the year.'

[TheGSMoeller]

Wow! Only twice for me, No 6 appears to be my 'flavor of the year.'

What's your 6th of choice, Brian?

[Brian]

What's your 6th of choice, Brian?

Easily Celibidache! I really, really, really did not want to join the Celi fan club, because it seemed like such a weird cultish enterprise, but Papy Oli convinced me to listen to Celi's Sixth on Spotify and, to quote the Monkees, "now I'm a believer."    The outer movements are so rhythmically solid and enormous-feeling - and he's the only guy who gets the slow movement to really make sense for me as a heartrending lyrical testament. With other ensembles it can sound like a bizarre half-baked interlude...

Caveat: the only other Sixths I've heard are Skrowaczewski, Maazel, and Jochum.

[TheGSMoeller]

Easily Celibidache! I really, really, really did not want to join the Celi fan club, because it seemed like such a weird cultish enterprise, but Papy Oli convinced me to listen to Celi's Sixth on Spotify and, to quote the Monkees, "now I'm a believer."

Caveat: the only other Sixths I've heard are Skrowaczewski, Maazel, and Jochum.

I have Celibidache's 4th & 5th recordings, and I normally enjoy my Bruckner at a quicker tempo (Dohnanyi/Cleveland) but I was easily sold on Celibidache interpretations. His 5th is operatic, I was exhausted at the end, but so incredibly moved.
So on to Celibidache's 6th I go!

Thanks, Brian.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Caveat: the only other Sixths I've heard are Skrowaczewski, Maazel, and Jochum.

Which Jochum? With the Staatskapelle or with the Bavarians? With the Bavarians is my favourite. I got another Sixth recommendation, though, the other day - Horst Stein and the VPO... Does anyone know that interpretation?

[Brian]

Hope you love the Celi 6th as much as I do, Greg!

Which Jochum? With the Staatskapelle or with the Bavarians? With the Bavarians is my favourite. I got another Sixth recommendation, though, the other day - Horst Stein and the VPO... Does anyone know that interpretation?

Staatskapelle. Is the Stein recording, erm, 'vintage'?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Hope you love the Celi 6th as much as I do, Greg!

Staatskapelle. Is the Stein recording, erm, 'vintage'?

From 1975, or thereabouts... Look here:


http://www.amazon.com/Bruckner-Symphony-No-Weber-Overtures/dp/B0007MR298

[Lethevich]

That Stein recording is super, it's a notable for me along with Klemperer, Furtwängler (incomplete), Celi, Eichhorn and Sawallisch (these last two may be seen as two "straight", but I like that). My favourite is Haitink/Dresden on Profil.

I'm sure there is one of Calaf's (I forget what his last name change was) neat lederhosen-Bruckner recs that I am forgetting. For a symphony that was supposedly misunderstood and neglected until recently, it sure has a lot of great recordings.

[Drasko]

Stein's 6th is from 1972, very fine Decca Sofiensaal recording. It's my favorite 6th.

Andre's (Calaf) preferences, to my knowledge, are very German: Bongartz, Keilberth and Leitner probably.